The flu-related deaths of five more Arkansans, including two children under 19, were reported to the state Department of Health in the past week, raising the total death toll from this year's flu season to 184.
Meanwhile, information reported by doctor's offices and hospitals indicated the number of new cases continued declining.
State Epidemiologist Dirk Haselow said it appears the state's flu season peaked in early February.
If the season lasts 20 weeks, as most seasons do, it should end in about five weeks, he said.
"We are clearly on the downturn, by all indicators," he said.
The death toll in Arkansas last month surpassed the 110 people who died in the 2014-15 season, which had been the state's deadliest since the state Department of Health began tracking flu deaths in 2000.
The most recent deaths include two children or teenagers age 5 to 18 and three people who were 65 and older.
Both of the children who died had not been vaccinated against the flu and were infected with influenza B viruses, which most commonly infect children, Haselow said.
That type of flu overtook influenza A last month as the most common type in circulation in the state.
Most of the season has been dominated by an influenza A virus known as H3N2 that tends to cause more illness than other flu viruses.
Three other Arkansas children or teenagers have also died from the flu this season, including two others who were age 5-18 and one child younger than 5. Those three deaths were all from influenza A, Health Department spokesman Meg Mirivel said.
Of the other people who have died from the flu in the state this season, 134 were age 65 or older, 31 who were age 45-64 and 11 who were age 25-44.
Nationally, public health officials last week said the worst of the flu season is over, although the level of transmission remains high.
In Arkansas, the number of patients visiting emergency rooms with high fevers and coughs or sore throats during the week that ended Saturday fell by 47 percent compared with the previous week, from 1,101 to 581, the state Health Department reported.
Those patients also made up a smaller percentage of all emergency room patients, with the percentage falling from 5.4 percent to 3.1 percent.
Similarly, about 4.9 percent of patients visiting doctors' offices had flu-like symptoms, compared with 6.6 percent the previous week.
Haselow said people who haven't gotten the flu shot, which becomes fully effective about two weeks after it's administered, should still get one.
Although new cases of flu are on the decline, the level remains above the peak of some previous flu seasons. And the season could end up lasting longer than expected, Haselow said.
The shot also helps train the immune system to fend off the flu in future seasons, he said.
Of the 184 Arkansans who have died from the flu this season, 38 had been vaccinated and 76 had not. Whether any of the others who died had been vaccinated hadn't been determined, Mirivel said.
Haselow also recommended that people wash their hands frequently and cough into their sleeve or elbow instead of their hands. That will also help prevent the spread of other respiratory viruses that circulate during the winter, he said.
Metro on 03/07/2018